When crisis management training transforms into crisis handling

The recent crisis management exercise at Manchester’s Trafford Shopping Centre is to be applauded: it is only through thorough crisis management training that the emergency services, businesses and other organisations can ensure they do and say the right things under intense pressure.

So it was unfortunate that the police had to apologise for offence caused by a ‘terrorist’ shouting "Allahu Akbar" before setting off explosives as part of the exercise.

It’s a stark reminder that whilst crisis simulations are an essential element of crisis management planning, they carry their own risks.

Here are three steps to ensure that your crisis exercise does not morph into a crisis all of its own:

A crisis simulation exercise is one of the best ways for organisations to ensure they are ready to respond quickly and effectively to an incident. But it must be planned with military precision if it is not to fall flat, or worse, create a bigger crisis than the one it was designed to address.

For more information, download our guidelines to running a successful crisis simulation or take a look behind the scenes at a recent Insignia exercise, view the video below.